Texas UIL baseball bi-district playoffs set to begin later this week
Texas UIL baseball playoffs set to begin with top teams competing
Justin Rose is joining McLaren Golf as its first global ambassador after six years of gear free agency. He feels comfortable with this partnership due to his extensive experience in the sport.
Mentioned in this story
Justin Rose is joining McLaren Golf after six years of gear free agency.Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images and McLaren Golf
As he stares down his 46th birthday this summer, Justin Rose is the oldest player in the Official World Golf Rankings top 50 — and that experience isn’t lost on him.
In fact, his past experience is part of the reason he feels so comfortable becoming an investor in McLaren Golf, the new venture of the F1 and Supercar juggernaut.
Rose was announced as the company’s first global ambassador on Monday at this week’s Cadillac Championship in Miami. On Tuesday, at a pre-tournament press conference, he was asked about the new partnership, with the brand is set to officially announce its new clubs at an event on Wednesday.
“McLaren Golf has been something that’s been on the back burner for a good number of months,” Rose said Tuesday at his pre-tournament press conference, his first comments since the announcement. “Obviously, to launch a brand out of the ground obviously has been going for a lot longer than a year. It’s something I’ve been involved with from the outset, really helping the engineering team, really testing the very first editions of the club. So yeah, I’ve been kind of working with the project for well over a year, probably.”
Justin Rose was asked directly if he thought changing clubs at this point in his career was a risk.
He was direct and he was unwavering.
"In the long-term, no, I don't see there being an issue at all."
Many people have compared this to when Rose switched to Honma clubs in… pic.twitter.com/6eqQzTX18q
— Jack Hirsh (@JR_HIRSHey) April 28, 2026
Rose himself brought up his past experience with making equipment changes. After spending the first 20 years of his career with TaylorMade Golf, he shocked the golf world when, at the beginning of the 2019 season and as the reigning World No. 1, .
Justin Rose is partnering with McLaren Golf as their first global ambassador, leveraging his experience in the sport to support the brand's new venture.
McLaren Golf is a new division launched by the F1 and Supercar company, which will officially announce its new golf clubs soon.
Justin Rose is 46 years old and is currently the oldest player in the Official World Golf Rankings top 50.
Justin Rose was announced as McLaren Golf's first global ambassador on Monday at the Cadillac Championship in Miami.
Texas UIL baseball playoffs set to begin with top teams competing
Elon guard Ned Hull joins Virginia Tech for the 2026-27 season
Coastal Carolina crushes UNC 12-2 in a dominant top-10 showdown!
Knicks dominate Hawks 126-97 in Game 5, taking a 3-2 series lead!
Texas A&M baseball secures a 9-7 victory over Tarleton!
NCAA eliminates prize money restrictions for student-athletes in new settlement.
See every story in Sports — including breaking news and analysis.
Although Rose won early that season at Torrey Pines — like he did this year — the partnership quickly soured and all of the Honma clubs were out of his bag by early 2020. Both parties exited the deal shortly thereafter.
By: Jack Hirsh
Since then, Rose has been a gear-free agent and one who tinkers frequently from using lead tape on his driver shaft to using split brand set of irons or gaming seven-year-old fairway woods.
On Tuesday, Rose was asked if that freedom was worth giving up given how well he has played of late, winning twice on the PGA Tour since last August and finishing in the top-3 in the last two Masters.
Without being directly asked about it, Rose brought up the 2019 situation with Honma.
“From my point of view, no, I’m actually looking at what can be better. I’m looking to mitigate risk,” Rose said. “Yeah, I’ve done this once before as well in 2019, obviously, and I kind of learned a lot from that process. So I feel a bit better place now to kind of go down this path.
Justin Rose did NOT SIGN with McLaren. Justin Rose IS McLaren Golf.
This is not Honma.
Justin Rose is an investor in the company.
He has 0 contractual obligation to play the clubs.
Nobody would blame him for playing his Masters bag.
He CHOSE to play the clubs this week. pic.twitter.com/YDkkwsCuj2
— Jake Morrow (@MadeForTheRange) April 28, 2026
“I think yeah, I think there’s some best practices that we’re kind of, we’ve sort of put into development really that I think are giving me what I feel are a fantastic set of golf clubs. I’m looking at some of the performance data that I’m getting on the range and places like that and outperforming what I have.”
The main differences between 2019 and now are that Rose isn’t signing on with an established brand looking to push into a new market. McLaren is starting their golf business from scratch, and Rose has been along from the start. That’s why he’s also not just an ambassador; he’s an investor in the company.
He added that while he enjoyed his years as a free agent, he didn’t think what he was playing currently was the best thing for him, but he was able to form ideas about what exactly he needed.
“I think when you’re not with an equipment manufacturer, there’s a little bit of temptation just to bounce around anyway, there’s so many good options out there,” Rose said. “But at the same time, I’ve learned so much from being brand agnostic for a while that I kind of have my own preference list now. I feel like I’m in an environment where I can take all my preferences to one place where they can execute on that for me.”
Our spies are everywhere… are those McLaren irons in Justin Rose’s bag? 🔎
SPECS (Lofts/Lies/Length/Swingweight)
4 – 22/62/39”/D3
5 – 26/62/38.5”/D3
6 – 30/62/38”/D3
7 – 34/62.5/37.5”/D3
8 – 38/63/37”/D3
9 – 42/63.5/36.5”/D3
P – 46/64/36.25”/D4KBS C-Taper S+
Lamkin JR REL… pic.twitter.com/Nbveo1V9dw— Fully Equipped (@Fully_Equipped) April 27, 2026
For now, Rose confirmed the company’s initial offering will be two sets of irons, a blade and a cavity-back, which Rose was still contemplating the exact makeup of his set this week in Miami. He acknowledged that there will still be some growing pains as he puts the clubs in competition for the first time.
“Obviously, there’s going to be a refinement process,” he said. “You can test all you want, you got to get the clubs in play, and there’s going to be little mini situations out there, different lies, all sorts of things, just getting comfortable. But in the long-term, no, I don’t see there being an issue at all.”
But this will just be the beginning and he looks forward to building out a complete bag with McLaren.
“I got lots of ideas on every part of the game,” he added. “This is a good place for me to be able to put my ideas down and let the smart engineers go figure it out. But yeah, it’s a fun process to think of it all.”
Want to overhaul your bag in 2026?**Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.